


A Little Light

by InArlathan



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:28:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21778312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InArlathan/pseuds/InArlathan
Summary: Desperate to learn more, Lavellan is looking for deeper knowledge about the mark on her hand in Haven's library. After a long day of studying, Solas shows up to check on her and offer his help.
Relationships: Female Inquisitor/Solas (Dragon Age), Fen'Harel | Solas/Female Lavellan
Kudos: 6





	A Little Light

**Author's Note:**

> This was prompted to me on [Tumblr](https://in-arlathan.tumblr.com) and is an exploration of Lavellan's feelings early on in the Solas romance. Please enjoy.

It wasn’t until the candles went out that she realized how much time she’d spent in the library. Doused in sudden darkness, Lavellan swore under her breath and fumbled for the fresh candles she had brought with her as a replacement. 

An absolute silence had taken hold of the rooms in the basement of Haven’s Chantry, making her panting loud and ragged by contrast. How did she not notice that everyone had retired for the night? 

A moment later, a soft warm light flared up by the door. She jolted upright, turning around in an instant. Every fiber in her body went tense with anticipation.

“You need more light, lethallin,” Solas said, showing one of his rare smiles.

She stared at him, struggling to realize she was not in danger. Even now, as an official member of the Inquisition, Lavellan was half-expecting the townsfolk of Haven to lock her up at any given moment. It was still hard to believe that they had dismissed their mistrust and replaced it with unconditional worship so easily.

 _Herald of Andraste_ , she thought. _Yeah, sure..._

Lavellan rubbed her tired eyes, slowly easing back into the moment.

“What are you doing here?”, she asked.

“We didn’t see you at dinner,” he said, amused. “So, naturally, everyone was concerned about you. Cassandra especially. She has everyone looking for you just now, to make sure you haven’t run off.” To her surprise, he chuckled. “I was quite sure you didn’t, but I joined the seeker’s efforts so we might all sleep in comfort tonight.”

For a moment, Lavellan thought she saw mockery in his eyes, but when he came closer and held out his hand so the fireball would help her see better without making a cocky remark, she dismissed the thought. 

“Thank you,” she said and took the spare candles that had been buried beneath a stack of parchment scrolls, lighting them with the fire Solas had conjured up so easily. With a sigh, she replaced the old candles and stifled a yawn. 

Solas twisted his hand and the fireball perished. His eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw the ancient tome lying on the desk before Lavellan. “What were you doing here, this late at night?” 

“Just some light reading. ‘An Advanced Compendium on the Schools of Magic’, for starters,” she said, pointing to the book. “Vivienne assured me it was a good place to start my studies.”

“What were you hoping to find in there?” Solas asked, bewildered.

Her lips curled up in a half-hearted smile. “Since I am not a mage, you mean?”

Solas opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but then he decided otherwise and closed it again.

Lavellan sighed, running a hand through her long blond hair. She could feel how tangled it was. What must he think of her?

“Since the mark is of magical origin, I thought it might be time for me to get acquainted with the basics of magic,” she told him.

“The power that bestowed that mark upon your hand is unlike anything any mage of this age has encountered,” Solas pointed out. “Did you really think you would find deeper knowledge in books for acolytes in the Circle of Magi?”

“No, I didn’t,” she replied. “It just…”

She let the sentence trail off, uncertain what to say. What had she hoped to find in those books, anyway?

Solas leaned against the table. “Please, go on.”

Lavellan clenched her left hand, half-expecting the green light of the mark to flare up, but nothing happened. Again. How was she able to do what she did – sealing the rifts – if most of the time she didn’t even understand how she did it?

“For a mage such as yourself, this might sound childish,” she said.

Solas smirked. “Somehow I doubt that.”

Her gaze flicked towards him, taking in his sharp features. Everything about him – his poise, his posture, the tiny upward curl of his lips – seemed like he was genuinely interested in what she had to say.

 _Now, that’s a first,_ she thought.

The last time she had talked with Solas, he’d seemed more than secretive about himself. In fact, upon their return to Haven from the Temple of Sacred Ashes, the elven apostate had appeared to be dead set on the idea to avoid her in any way possible. Only when she approached him openly, he answered her questions and even then he was reluctant to share more personal information. That he came to speak to her on his own volition was highly unusual behavior for him.

Yet, she was grateful for it. She enjoyed talking to him more than she’d like to admit. Vivienne and the Chantry folks in Haven might denounce him as apostate, flinging the word at Solas like an insult, Lavellan had grown up amongst mages that had never been trained by the Circle. Her view of Solas was not clouded by the Chantry's teaching or superstition.

“All my life I have wanted to learn more, even though my clan wasn’t too happy about it,” she told him, allowing her gaze to drift off. Her mind returned to the far-away meadows and hills of the Free Marches, where she had spent her entire life before coming to Haven. “The other hunters chastised me for sneaking away into the woods or reading books on ‘shemlen shenanigans’. For them, there was nothing more important than to keep the clan safe and fed. When they listened to the old stories, they merely dismissed them as morality tales. But that is not how I felt. I couldn’t help but wonder how and why these stories came to be. I wanted to know what had brought us here ⎯ me, my clan, the Dalish in general.”

“More often than not, I went to Keeper Deshanna to seek guidance,” she continued. “I pestered her with my questions, trying to piece together the fractured tapestry of our history. Somehow, I thought it would help me understand why the world is the way it is. In tracing the path that had let us to where we are now, I hoped to find a way to move forward. I guess that is why she came to me when it was time to pick someone to spy on the conclave. But what good did it to me? “

She licked her lips, biting back the bitter feeling the memories invoke in her. All of this seemed to have happened so long ago, it might as well have happened to a different person. When she had awoken after the explosion at the conclave, everything she knew about the inner workings of the world had been taken from her, not just the memory of the explosion itself. Absolutely nothing made sense to her anymore.

If she could only remember what happened…

“I think I know what you mean,” Solas said, lost in his own thoughts. “You hoped that if you knew more about magic, you could find a way to learn more about the anchor and how it affects you.”

“Yes, that,“ she admitted, shaking her left hand to release the tension in her muscles. “And how I might keep it from killing me.”

Without warning, Solas drew himself upright, his lips set in a tense line. “I will not allow the mark to harm you,” he said sternly. “I can promise you that.”

Lavellan couldn’t help but smile. This reminded her of another conversation she had with Solas. It had been the first time that had truly talked to each after their return from the meeting with Mother Giselle in the Hinterlands.

 _“You came here to help, Solas. I won’t let them use that against you.”_  
“How would you stop them?”  
“However I had to.”

It seemed, suddenly, their roles were reversed. And it was quite endearing to see Solas care for her.

 _Don’t get your hopes up_ , she told herself. _It’s not like he has any interest in you. The only thing he truly cares about is to seal the Breach._

“That’s very kind of you, Solas,” she said, still smiling. “But you won’t be around forever to take care of me, are you? Besides, I’m can handle myself pretty well and I’d like things to remain that way. I just need to learn more about this threat we're facing, that’s all.”

Looking at Solas once more, she found herself taken aback.

Did her eyes trick her or was he blushing?

“Well,” Solas mused, breaking into a small cough. “If you truly wish to learn more about magic, maybe I could assist you in your studies. Only if you find my help useful, of course. Maybe I can provide insight that Circle mages lack, as my unique knowledge of the Fade allowed me to slow the mark from spreading while you lay in dreamless slumber.”

 _Okay, maybe he is interested_ , a soft voice in the back of her mind whispered, and she allowed herself to hope. A little bit, at least. 

Lavellan smiled before she could stop herself. “Thank you, Solas. That would be lovely.”


End file.
